Monday, December 21, 2009

The Medicine Man

Working out of a Reno, Nevada, software firm called eTreppid Technologies, Montgomery took in officials in the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology and convinced them that technology he invented -- but could not explain -- was pulling terrorist-produced "bar codes" from Al Jazeera television broadcasts. Using his proprietary technology, those bar codes could be translated into longitudes and latitudes and flight numbers. Terrorist leaders were using that data to direct their compatriots about the next target.

Though that story has an element of old-fashioned corruption as well as new-age woo. When the purpose of the exercise is to massively inflate the price of gear and pocket the bribes & mark-up, it's probably helps that the gear doesn't work so the concept of 'value for money' has been abandoned right at the start.

Further down that story, it emerges that the fraudsters scammed the Cheney administration repeatedly -- among other things, acquiring a no-bid $30-million contract to develop magical face-recognition vapourware for drone video footage -- partly because they were sheltered right from the top, to prevent the embarrassment that might result from a prosecution.

[Director of National Intelligence] Negroponte issued a declaration that warned of “serious, and in some cases exceptionally grave, damage to the national security of the United States.” He invoked the state secrets privilege. The judge in the case issued a protective order; the secrets of eTreppid’s government business would remain untold.

It's almost as if a criminal gang managed to acquire control of the security system.